The Rose of Persia

By Arthur Sullivan, Basil Hood and Mint Editions

A wealthy man unknowingly harbors the Sultana after she sneaks out of the palace, which causes the Sultan and his guards to storm their party. Threatened with death, the man tries to convince the Sultan to spare his life. Hassan is a wealthy merchant who loves the company of common travelers. Despite his social status and many wives (25 to be exact), he constantly opens his home to relative strangers. In one instance, he is entertained by a group of dancers including the Sultana in disguise. She has ventured outside the palace without the Sultan’s knowledge. If the Sultana is discovered, she, Hassan and multiple members of his party will be put to death. The Rose of Persia is an intricate tale about tradition, politics and secret desires. Basil Hood and Arthur Sullivan deliver a humorous tale led by an unlikely but empathetic hero. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Rose of Persia is both modern and readable.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Release date: Jun 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781513286471

Arthur Sullivan

Sydney Grundy (1848–1914) and Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) were successful collaborators during the late nineteenth century. Grundy attended Owens College where he studied law before he embarked on his theatrical career. Elsewhere, Sullivan was raised in a musical family where he learned to play multiple instruments at an early age. He would go on to produce H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) and The Pirates of Penzance (1879). Meanwhile, Grundy worked on A Little Change (1872), A Pair of Spectacles (1889) and A Village Priest (1890).

Book preview

Act I

SCENE.—Court of HASSAN’s house. Entrance to house on Left. At back and on Right view of streets.

HASSAN is seated contemplating the view over the city. He is surrounded by his wives, who are lying on divans. It is a beautiful moonlit night.

CHORUS OF WIVES.

As we lie in languor lazy,

Lounging on a low divan,

Flood of interesting chatter

Flows behind each dainty fan:

"Is our husband going crazy?

Neighbours call him Mad Hassan!"

Not an unimportant matter

For the wives of any man!

(addressing HASSAN) Hassan! Hassan! Hassan!

Inform us if you can!

Irresponsible and hazy,

Unconventional and mazy

Seem your actions—are you crazy?

Are you crazy, O Hassan?

HASSAN turns round on his seat, and faces the audience.

SONG.—HASSAN.

I’m Abu’l Hassan;

I’m neither sick nor sad:

A most contented man,

Though foolish persons think me mad!

The laziest of lives

I live in peace and plenty,

Surrounded by my wives

Who number only five-and-twenty!

You’ll find that five-and-twenty

Are practically plenty,

If you’ve a craze

To make your days

A dolce far niente!

Another wife

Might spoil my life,

Because you see

(’Twixt you and me),

She might have tricks

That would not mix

With dolce far niente!

CHORUS (to one another): Another wife, etc.

HASSAN: It may occur to you

That only twenty-five

Are singularly few—

To that, of course, I’m quite alive!

My wealth is so immense

Their number I could double;

I do not fear expense

So much, you see, as extra trouble!

I smoke my hubble-bubble,

And calculate the trouble;

The trouble I’ve

With twenty-five

Twice twenty-five would double!

A simple thumb

And finger sum—

It’s rule of three

It seems to me;

Our Arabic

Arithmetic

Would prove the trouble double!

CHORUS (to one another): A simple thumb, etc.

HASSAN: O Moon-upon-the-Waters!

MOON: I am here, O husband! (Advances to him)

HASSAN: O Song-of-Nightingales!

SONG: I am here, O husband! (Advances to him)

HASSAN: O Whisper-of-the-West-Wind!

WHISPER: I am here, O husband! (Advances to him)

HASSAN: O Blush-of-Morning!

BLUSH-OF-MORNING enters from house.

BLUSH: I am here, O husband! (Advances to him)

HASSAN (counting girls): Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty- five, O Dancing Sunbeam!

BLUSH: She is not here, O husband!

HASSAN: Not here? Twenty-four, twenty-five—do you mean that Dancing Sunbeam is twenty-six?

BLUSH: She says so, O husband. I say she is forty, if she is an hour.

HASSAN: Twenty-six! Dear me! Who was the last lady I married?

OASIS: I was the last, Oasis-in-the-Desert.

HASSAN: I fear you will have to be divorced, Oasis. I had no idea you made twenty-six. It was careless of me to have married you; but there it is. (Kindly) You can have a month’s notice.

OASIS: I hear you and obey.

HASSAN: Nice girl. Where is Dancing Sunbeam?

Enter DANCING SUNBEAM.

SUNBEAM: I am here, O husband.

HASSAN: Ah! Is it you, O Dancing Sunbeam, who have told these girls that I am crazy?

SUNBEAM: Even so.

HASSAN: The odds were even so. (To DANCING SUNBEAM) Will you tell me what reason you have found for thinking that I have lost mine?

SUNBEAM: O husband, you are indifferent to other people. For when I nag at you by the hour—and I can nag—you take no notice; but sit and smile and babble to yourself that you hear soft music in the air—

BLUSH: How do you manage that if you are not mad?

HASSAN: Hush! That is a secret! Go on.

SUNBEAM: Secondly, O husband—

HASSAN: Don’t say O husband every time. I shan’t forget that I am married.

SUNBEAM: Secondly, O foolish one, you are different from other people. For though you are naturally vulgar and unnaturally rich, you do not try to push your way into the best society.

HASSAN: No. I prefer the worst. I am a rich man, and try to be charitable, but I prefer the society of beggars to the beggars of society.

SUNBEAM: But when I married your money I meant to be in the best society, one day.

HASSAN: We were in it one day. One day was enough for me.

SUNBEAM: The ball was at our feet. I shall never forget that!

HASSAN: The ball was at our house. I shall never forget that! Upper classes? I know ’em, however much they pretend not to know me. They took everything I gave them, and when there was nothing else for them to take, they took me for one of the waiters! No. The friendship of fashionable persons is the one thing you will have to do without—you can have everything else money can buy, except that. I have spoken.

Exit HASSAN.

SUNBEAM: The day I married that man I married an idiot!

Exit DANCING SUNBEAM.

BLUSH: Yes, whatever he is now, on that day he cannot have been quite clear in his mind.

Enter ABDALLAH.

ABDALLAH: Peace be upon this house!

GIRLS: And on you Peace!

ABDALLAH: Where is your eccentric husband?

BLUSH: O Priest, he has just left us.

ABDALLAH: Has he gone out to